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Even though acupuncturists and other holistic health-care practitioners tend to think of the body ( mind/body connected) as a garden rather than a car, the concept body-as-machine is a good starting place. And who doesn’t like School House Rock?

When you go to a health-care provider you are playing a role, that of the patient/client/customer who is purchasing a product, namely, health care. There are certain expectations surrounding that role. You are asked to tell the “story” of your chief concern (i.e. the who, what, where, why, when and how of what is “wrong” with you), to participate in the treatment process aimed at facilitating a change of the “wrong” thing, and to listen (at least), if not hopefully execute the recommendations of that health-care provider to also facilitate change of the condition to ideally bring about a positive improvement in your health. It is important, if not crucial, for the patient to actively participate in the process of the goal of improving his or her health. It is also 100% necessary for the acupuncturist (or any health-care provider) to also play his or her role well.

The acupuncturist’s role is similar to any other health-care provider. We listen carefully when you tell us your story. The acupuncturist may be listening to the quality of your voice as you explain your chief concern but regardless, while you tell your story, he or she is taking the information you provide and making sense of it using Chinese medicine as a framework. Although at times there can be similarities to how other health-care modalities make sense of your health, for the most part, how Chinese medicine makes sense of you is different from all other types of health-care. Chinese medicine has its own vocabulary, its own way of making sense of your experience, its own tools of treatment and recommendations of “homework”. Like other health-care practitioners, we decide a treatment plan based upon what you tell us and the information collected objectively. That decision is made, in part, by what we “read” in your tongue and Chinese pulses. These are two of the things that are mainly unique to Chinese medicine. We also, like other practitioners, carry out the treatment process once we make a decision. Afterwards, we want to know how you are; did you experience change? We rely on what you have to report, how you appear outwardly and changes in your tongue and pulses to gauge that change. Based upon your feedback and what we “read” about you, we make recommendations about continued care.

It’s said that a poor acupuncturist treats only signs and symptoms. A good acupuncturist treats the reason for those signs and symptoms but a great acupuncturist helps to remove any obstacles that keep an individual from best manifesting their destiny.